Children, Poverty, and Violence

Advance #14680A

Describe the need affecting constituents.

Despite high levels of prosperity achieved by many countries around the globe, millions of children still live in conditions of poverty and suffer violence, abuse and exploitation on a daily basis. Statistics published by UNICEF states, "More than a billion children (representing 40 percent of children in developing countries) survive on less than $1.00 per day," and millions die of preventable diseases annually. Poverty denies children the right to their basic needs including education, food and shelter, among other needs that they may have.

Describe the purpose of the project.

This Advance supports initiatives which seek to engage children (under 18 years old) living in contexts of poverty and violence to become engaged in addressing issues in their communities. Over the past quadrennium, this project has supported projects which train former child soldiers in vocational skills, to teach children about their rights in the Philippines, to teach conflict resolution through art in the United States, and to enable youth to develop community projects in Argentina.

Describe the primary goal of the project.

The mission of this project is to support initiatives, which educate and engage children around the world. In addition, it seeks to enable the greater United Methodist Church to learn about and connect with powerful models of working with children globally. The overall goals of the project are to do the following: 1.) Deepen the level of commitment of UMCs to end child poverty, violence, and exploitation particularly in conditions of war, and hazardous child labor. 2.) Support projects that engage children in looking at issues of poverty and violence and in taking action in their communities and around the world. 3.) Advocate for children's rights at the local, national, and international level.